Preindustrial and Postwar Economic Development: Is There a Link?

Abstract

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Early Starts, Reversals and Catch‐up in the Process of Economic Development*

“…Thus it seems that although countries that had had longer histories of agrarian state society suffered during the colonial era, they have begun to grow fast enough that they may soon fully rebound from this negative shock. Similar results on growth in the 1960-90 period are obtained by Burkett, Humblet and Putterman (1999) using as proxies for early development the Boserupean measures population density, cultivated acres per capita, and the irrigated 22 Note that the first stage regression is the same as the one that appears in Column 4 of Table 5A share of cultivated land. Greater early or pre-industrial development is associated with faster, not slower, economic growth in the late 20 th Century.…”

Social Capability, History and the Economies of Communist and Postcommunist States

“…Lenski and Nolan (1984) tested this hypothesis with a simple dummy variable (for "horticultural" versus "agricultural" societies) and found it to be supported. Burkett et al (1999) adapted Boserup's focus on agricultural intensification and population density as measures of early development. They hypothesized and found statistical support for the idea that more densely populated countries with more farmers per unit of cultivated land and with greater use of irrigation achieved more rapid economic growth between 1960 and 1990.…”

“…Our primary conceptual lens is the social capability or evolutionary approach to economic growth developed by Moses Abramovitz (1995), Jonathan Temple and Paul A. Johnson (1998), and Louis Putterman (2000), an approach pursued empirically by John Burkett et al (1999), Valerie Bockstette et al (2002), Douglas Hibbs and Ola Olsson (2004), and Areendam Putterman (2004, 2005). These authors contend that social capabilities develop over long periods of time, influenced initially by differences in the timing of the transition to agrarian civilization and subsequently by geographic and other determinants of the diffusion of technological and organizational innovations.…”

Social Capability, History and the Economies of Communist and Post-Communist States

“…Lenski and Nolan (1984) tested this hypothesis with a simple dummy variable (for "horticultural" versus "agricultural" societies) and found it to be supported. Burkett, Humblet and Putterman (1999), adapting Boserup's focus on agricultural intensification and population density, hypothesized and found statistical support for the idea that more densely populated countries with more farmers per unit of cultivated land and with greater use of irrigation were achieving more rapid economic growth between 1960 and 1990. Their findings were reconfirmed for a larger sample of 77 developing countries as well as for 93 developed and developing countries together by Chanda and Putterman (2002), studying economic growth in the years 1960 to 1995.…”